More things that Indian startups miss out

Remember my “7 things that Indian Startups Miss out” post? This is a continuation of that.

8. Big names in Board of Directors/Advisory Panel

Take a moment to check out the about us section of allsuccessfulstartups. You will find a number of big names in their panel. While me not arguing that you can be successful only with Big names on board, at the same time, being able to convince someone to become a advisory itself, is definitely a great start. Something, a number of startups have to think about.

9. International Focus

I was wondering how many Indian Startups registered to the “Under the Radar” conference. If you refer to my Interview with Lalit of Mobisy, for the question “Any changes after MoMo Barcelona. More calls from VCs? More Job Applications?“, his response was

Surely, last few months have been extremely hectic for Management team thanks to MoMo Barcelona. For me , biggest takeaway from Barcelona was more customer interest rather than anything else. Obviously customer interest helps a lot also to get more attention from VCs or prospective employees.

Out of ‘n’ number of startups in India, only few are really looking for the international reach, while a number of them are quite content with the Adsense money that they get from their site. My point is simple. If your target market is just India, then continue to participate in India specific conferences alone. But on the other hand, if you are thinking of a Global audience, then you definitely need to have a global approach. Plan your investment accordingly.

10. Willingness to listen to comments

When Meebo was a startup, I used to email some of my comments (over enthu guy). And I used to get replies to all my emails; whether they are going to consider them or not is a different issue and this is one of the reason I liked Meebo. I find it really strange to see few Indian Startups not caring to reply to emails at all. Are you guys too busy and hence not able to reply for ages? A few of them will not thank/appreciate the comments. They are so keen on their image that the moment, a blogger mentions something negative, he doesn’t deserve any respect at all. Well I may be a little partial here, due to some recent unpleasant experiences. But in simple terms, listen to what others say. They might have something valuable too!

And finally, what do my readers miss out? Comments! 100+ visitors reading and yet only 2 or 3 leaving comments is not appearing fair. Expecting more comments from now on.